“I don’t want to get beaten to death, stabbed and burnt alive,” a slight woman with long blond hair and a checked shirt says. “I want a gun to feel equal.”

She is a member of one of the United States’ fastest-growing gun clubs, the jauntily named Pink Pistols.

Two years after the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, gay, lesbian and transgender Americans are nervous. According to the Human Rights Center (HRC), a US LGBTI advocacy group, 52 gay people were murdered in the US last year because of their sexuality, and 28 transgender people met the same fate.

In increasing numbers, they are fighting back by taking up arms.

It’s brought them into lock step with pro-gun groups that haven’t, historically, been all that welcoming of gay people.

This NY Post article author seems to think that the Pink Pistols is a new organization.There were a couple of member of the Pink Pistols at the very first Party In The Park, IIRC. Possibly the second one.

AlanMThere are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men. - RAHFour boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo - use in that order.If you aren't part of the solution, then you obviously weren't properly dissolved.

It’s brought them into lock step with pro-gun groups that haven’t, historically, been all that welcoming of gay people.

So what does one's sexual inclinations have to do with firearms? Why would a pro-gun group care who one sleeps with?

That's an oversimplification of the issue. Pro RKBA groups often are rooted in the traditional American Philosophy that values the spiritual over the material world. Many pro RKBA groups rely on Natural Rights being granted not by government, but by the Creator of the Universe, having set immutable laws in creation (like gravity). When the identity of other groups is predicated on the renunciation of those immutable laws set in creation, there's a bit of tension. Relationships are a bit more holistic than whom/what one takes to bed.

It would be interesting to learn what authority the Pink Pistols finds responsible for their RKBA rights. The philosophical underpinnings of a group help determine how they project the truth to society, how they engage in debate, how they fight for justice, etc...

“A free people claim their rights, as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate.”-Thomas Jefferson, 1774

Tweed Ring: "...we should have all done more to elected Republicans..." Agreed

I recall a member of the Pink Pistols speaking at the Second Amendment March in DC, back in 2010. So this certainly isn't a new thing.

We are dedicated to the legal, safe, and responsible use of firearms for self-defense of the sexual-minority community. We no longer believe it is the right of those who hate and fear gay, lesbian, bi, trans, or polyamorous persons to use us as targets for their rage. Self-defense is our RIGHT.

Don't think they really care where the right came from, just that they should exercise the right to self defense.

I’ve been involved in concealed carry/NRA/Pro-2a for a long time. I must have missed the indoctrination session that only straight white folks can have and carry guns and “others” certainly can’t join the NRA.

Although if I was a Deep South Democrat in the 1950’s, I may have heard that lecture in some form or another.

“Without dignity there is no liberty, without justice there is no dignity, and without independence there are no free men.” - Patrice Lumumba OFCC Patron, NRA Benefactor Life, GOA & Hot Stove League Member

Mr. Glock wrote:I’ve been involved in concealed carry/NRA/Pro-2a for a long time. I must have missed the indoctrination session that only straight white folks can have and carry guns and “others” certainly can’t join the NRA.

I must be among the few tokens, then?

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I met Jeff Bloovman at the Practically Tactical "Partner Shoot House" class at the Alliance PD facility last year. I didn't relate to him as gay/straight: to me, he was just another dude who liked guns. He's a great guy and I think a naturally talented instructor: although he wasn't serving in that role at the class, he gave me a very important golden-nugget in a way that's digestible to me and thus capable of being rapidly internalized.

It’s brought them into lock step with pro-gun groups that haven’t, historically, been all that welcoming of gay people.

So what does one's sexual inclinations have to do with firearms? Why would a pro-gun group care who one sleeps with?

That's an oversimplification of the issue. Pro RKBA groups often are rooted in the traditional American Philosophy that values the spiritual over the material world. Many pro RKBA groups rely on Natural Rights being granted not by government, but by the Creator of the Universe, having set immutable laws in creation (like gravity). When the identity of other groups is predicated on the renunciation of those immutable laws set in creation, there's a bit of tension. Relationships are a bit more holistic than whom/what one takes to bed.

It would be interesting to learn what authority the Pink Pistols finds responsible for their RKBA rights. The philosophical underpinnings of a group help determine how they project the truth to society, how they engage in debate, how they fight for justice, etc...

Big, brother, I am not sure that most people think as deeply as that. The older I get the more I seem to find people think quite shallow. Some days I am happy that they think at all.